You think it’s a toss-up?
You don’t want to vote?
You think there’s no difference
Or nothing of note?
You’re thinking of sitting it out?
You don’t see a difference
That merits attention
There’s no one to vote for,
Or even to mention
You’d rather just sit home and pout?
You think it’s decided?
Then go, and be vocal,
Make waves where they’re needed
And vote in the local
Elections, for city and state
The national picture
Is one part of many;
The local and state races
Show us that any-
One’s vote could determine our fate
You want to stay silent?
You think you’re not needed?
Your view won’t be counted?
Then they have succeeded,
Convincing you, give up the fight!
The truth is, you matter
In districts and states;
Your vote makes a difference
To so many fates;
So do it…, cos, frankly, it’s right.
Ok, the truth is, the national vote matters. A lot. Number one, for me… the Supreme Court. Vote for your rights. But yeah, even if you want to “protest the vote” by not voting (which, just to let you know, is utterly indistiguishable from not voting because you don’t care, or because you are an idiot), you really do want to vote, because (yeah, surprise!) there are more people on the ballot!
If you really honestly don’t want any of the candidates, and want to protest… vote Cuttlefish. I promise, I’ll let them know. If you don’t give a rat’s ass who wins… vote Cuttlefish. I’ll take it; I don’t care. If you have a difficult time realizing that the person you are voting for has a decent chance of running your country… vote Cuttlefish. Again, I’ll accept those votes.
But if the notion of voting for some pseudonymous internet person bothers you… get the fuck out and vote for one of the actual candidates.
And then donate money to the Cuttlefish campaign anyway. I mean, if you are still thinking about this at this point, I have a better than usual chance that you might actually want to throw some money at me, don’t you think?
TL;DR: if you are one of my readers, the odds are you are voting the way I am. So go vote. If you stumbled upon this site while looking for prayer messages… it’s ok, you can stay home.
so this isn’t where the Southern Baptist and Teabagger Heaven revival meeting is scheduled to meet?
“Ok, the truth is, the national vote matters. A lot.”
It depends entirely on your state. Everyone who votes for Obama in Texas is throwing their vote away. Everyone who votes for Romney in California is throwing their vote away. My vote in 2000 for Nader was wasted twice: the state went solidly for Gore, and Bush won anyway.
For all intents and purposes, the United States has been reduced to Isaac Asimov’s 1955 short story, Franchise.
I live in Mississippi. /lolsob
Gregory, While I can totally appreciate your position and have struggled to get myself to the polls before for the exact same reason (I live in the bible belly button of california), I would encourage you to reconsider. While it’s true that our vote isn’t going to sway a solid blue or red state to the other end of the spectrum, if there is a change happening in the voting population, we wont REALLY know until the votes come out. We can poll all we want, and I’ll be damned if the talking heads and commercials and crap don’t make it sound like we’re polarized all to hell and that’s that, but you might be one small part of a shift and unless you vote, that will never register in our collective conciousness. If my county became more socially liberal under the radar, even though that isn’t going to be reflected in who actually wins, then dammit I want to know that. If nothing else, be a blip on the radar.
@yellowsubmarine #4 – Don’t misunderstand, I have voted: my ballot went back out the day after I received it (Washington has all mail-in elections.) As a state, Washington hasn’t voted for a Republican president since 1984 and there is no evidence that this will change in 2012. I just like pointing out that all of the Romney voters in Eastern Washington are throwing away their votes.
Anyway, there are plenty of races where I can make a difference, such as governor and approving Referendum 74.
LOL! Coulda fooled me.
Voted. Minimal line… Total wait time was no more than 6 minutes and that was basically just the time to sign in and get my ballot. No hanging chads this year and no electronic touch screens, it was darken in the little oval with a black ink pen on a paper ballot. .For the 2nd national election in a row I violated my usual voting principle. I dislike both major parties and for many years voted for a 3rd party candidate so that my vote would register my displeasure. But, the Republicans disgust me so much that I voted for O on the off chance that my vote would help keep Romney at bay.. I’ll wait another hour or two then start watching the returns.
@ comfychair:
I know how you feel; I grew up in Tennessee.
But now . . . I live in MASSACHUSETTS!!!!!
Komponist, my sis-in-law lives in MA, and guarantees me that Mittens is going to win there. Mind you, she thought I’d have to suffer through a McCain/Palin administration…
What has your sis-in-law been smoking?
@ Gregory #5 – Ah, alright. I think we’re pretty much in agreement then.